Quantum conductance modulation in graphene by strain engineering

Abstract

Ab initio study reveals that strain can influence graphene’s ballistic conductance substantially; however, the effect of biaxial strain is significantly different from that of hydrostatic strain. For hydrostatic strain, tension increases conductance while compression decreases conductance. In contrast, when biaxial compressive strain is applied along the transport direction and the conduction electrons have energies higher than the Fermi energy of the system, conductance remains approximately unchanged. Nevertheless, for biaxial compressive strain with electron energies lower than the Fermi energy and for biaxial tensile strain conductance follows the hydrostatic behavior.